Grandparent's genes'll fix it

With hope in my heart I wish a long and happy life to the new-born Top of the Pops. Most newborn things are influenced by parents or even grandparents. The parents of the new Top of the Pops succeeded in losing two thirds of its audience. The grandparent (me) made it compulsive viewing and a household weekly fixture with double figures of millions of devoted fans, young and old.

Wednesday January 1 1964 saw the live birth of Top of the Pops in a converted old church in Manchester.

Last night, 40 years later, saw it go back to the womb. A live show from a state-of-the-art studio. Do fine feathers make fine birds? Well, as it happens, the fine new feathers were better than the tired old set. So far so good.

The lad presenting it, Tim Kash, was good under pressure and will be a biggie as long as he doesn't get a biggie head.

The all-new Top of the Pops got off to a dodgy pre-start when we were told that EastEnders followed in half an hour, but Top of the Pops was scheduled for a full hour. Not important. Really, the headline for all of this is "today's music suits today's people".

In 1964 viewers were horrified at the appearance and antics of the Rolling Stones. Today, unintelligible rap causes the same reaction in most yesterday people. For me, one of the stars of the show was the girl on the rope during the Westlife offering. This really set the new Top of the Pops apart as it kept turning into a variety show, of which there are too few on TV.

The 50-strong dancing and running team that appeared with Blazing Squad took your mind off the problem of understanding the rap. And that's another thing. Today's music is not for understanding as much as feeling it. Heavy beat and rave dancing is what suits today's people. God bless 'em all.

Live TV, which is happening as you see it, is very exciting to do. Any mistake is seen by millions and if there is a technical breakdown one has to ad lib or improvise like mad. On my first show in 1964, a girl standing in front of my twin-deck stage, turned round in some distress and said: "My boyfriend has fainted."

So, off the stand I jump, drag the kid round the back, prop him in a sitting position and trap him between my legs. We did the rest of the show with an unconscious body hidden from sight behind the record player. Great stuff.

So, votes out of 10 for the all-new Top of the Pops? Seven. It can only get better, fingers crossed.

· Sir Jimmy Savile, 77, presented the very first Top of the Pops which was broadcast on New Year's Day 1964.